Sewing-machine shuttle.



No. 639,044. Patented Dec. l2, I899.

P. H. HEWITT, E. A. COCKLE & C. MATTHEWS.- SEWING MACHINE SHUTTLE.(Application filed Mar. 29, 1898.) (No Model.)

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PERCY HUGHES IIEXVITT, EDWIN A. OOOKLE, AND CHARLES MATTHEWVS, OFLONDON, ENGLAND.

SEWING-MACHINE SHUTTLE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 639,044, dated December12, 1899.

Application filed March 29, 1898. Serial No. 675,559. (No model.) i

To CY/ZZ whom it may concern! Be it known that we, PERCY HUGHES HEW-ITT, barrister at law, of Oakley House, Spring Grove, Isleworth, London,W., and EDWIN ALLEN COCKLE and CHARLES MATTHEWS, bootmakers, of 34Victor Terrace, Harrow r0ad,'Willesden, London, N. W., England, haveinvented a new and useful Sewing-Machine Shuttle, (for which anapplication for patent has been filed in Great Britain, dated the 1stday of October, 1897, No. 22,488,) of which the following is a full,clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to shuttle sewingmachines; and it consists,essentially, in an improved construction of shuttle whereby it isadapted to contain an ordinary commercial bobbin or reel of thread, soas to avoid certain well-known disadvantages incidental to the use of aspecial spool of small capacity,

such as is generally employed, these disadvantages including not onlygreater complication and conseqnentenhanced cost of the machine due tothe necessity of providing special 1nechanism.for winding the spools,but also loss of time due to the necessityof frequently stopping,removing, and accurately replacing the work and of winding thread fromthe'ordinary reel onto the special spool, such lossbearing a high ratioto the total time worked.

The invention will be described with reference to the accompanyingdrawings, forming part of this specification, wherein- Figure 1 is arear end View of a shuttle constructed according to this invention, andFig.

2 is alongitudinal view, partly in section, of

the side of the shuttle which lies next to the shuttle-race andneedle-groove. Fig. 3 is a cross-section on line 3 3, Fig. 4, theinternal fittings being removed; and Fig. 4 is a horizontal section.Fig. 5 is a cross-section on line 5 5, 6; and Fig. 6 is a top plan viewof the shuttle, showing the thread-guide and tension device. Figs. 1 to6 are drawn to an enlarged scale.

The shuttle A, as' shown in Figs. 1 to 6, may conveniently be formed ofa metal catsing, and is of the same general configuration asothersewingqnachine shuttles,except that instead of being of D form incross-section and open at the fiat side it is of nearly circularcross-section, the flattened side a (which works,as usual, against theshuttle-race, so as to pass to and fro across the needlegroove) beingclosed and made of a width only sufficient to retain the shuttleinproper working position in the shuttle driver or cradle. The flattenedside of the shuttle being closed (whereby risk of any loose threadaccidene tally escaping from within the .shuttle, as well as liabilityof the needle-point catching in the shuttle, is obviated) and being ofless breadth than the diameter of the contained reel the latter cannotbe introduced into the shuttle in the ordinary way, and provision ismade for introducing the reel in the longitudinal direction at the heelend by making the heel of the shuttle .a detachable cap B in the formofa circular cup fitting snugly by its flange Z) into acorrespondingly.circular seat in the rear end of the body part A of. theshuttle, so that the needle-thread loop in slipping over the body of theshuttle will encounter no obstacle and not beliable to catch on thedetachable heel-cap. V r

The heel-cap is securely locked in. position preferably byinwardly-projecting studs 0, fixed in the body part A of the shuttle,engaging (by a partial longitudinal and rotary movement of the heel-cap)in bayonet-slots 0', out in theflange 12, these slots being of suchshape that the outward pressure of the reel on the heel-cap due to thethrust of the intern al spring, hereinafterdescribed, will tend toretain the studs in engagement in the slots,

so as to prevent any tendency of the heel-cap the heel-cap and bodyportion will be pre-- vented.

The heel-cap B is provided with holes cl for turning it in its seat bymeans of the finger or a suitable tool and with an inwardly-projectingcentral cone 6, adapted to enter the bored center of the reel R. Thereel R is held between the said cone 6 and a similar conefat the otherend formed upon a disk f, fitted to slide upon a dead-spindle g, fixedin the body of the shuttle, the disk being prevented from turning withthe reel by the angular section of the spindle, as seen in Fig. 5, andmeans (such as a head upon the spindle or a small cross-pin 9) beingprovided for retaining the disk and spring upon the spindle g when thereel is removed. Between the disk f and a suitable abutment formed bythe boss 9 in which the spindle is fixed, a spiral spring h is confined,so as by its pressure against the disk f to retain the reel securely inposition to rotate upon and between the cones ef as centers, withsufficient friction to check the rotation of the reel so far as may benecessary to prevent more than the requisite length of thread becomingunwound,

said friction also serving to impart tension to v the thread, while therange of elasticity of the spring and the length of the guide-spindle gare such as to adapt the shuttle to receive reels of various lengthsless than that of the erture in the diaphragm a Will remain closed evenshould the disk project beyond the diaphragm, as would be the case whena short reel is used.

The body A of the shuttle has a slit t' leading from the open heel endto a holej at the upper side of the shuttle, partly covered by a springtension-plate 7o, fixed to the exterior of the shuttle by an adjustablescrew 76, which also serves as the means of regulating the tension givento the thread. A stud upon the under side of the plate 7.; and enteringa hole in the shuttle forms a guide-stop for the thread during theforward movement of the shuttle, while a similar guide-stop during thebackward movement is formed by the forward end of the plate 7c beingcurved inward and outward, as shown at Z in Fig. '2, and housed in anaperture l in the body of the shuttle. The form thus given to theforward end of the ten sion-plate 70, while offering no obstruction tothe passage of the shuttle through the needle-thread loop, admits of thethread being easily passed beneath that end of the tension-plate duringthe operation of threading the shuttle, as hereinafter described.

In order to prevent any possibility of the shuttle-thread becomingcaught under the rear end of the tension-plate 70, the rear portion ofthe plate is curved somewhat toward the fiat side of the shuttle, asshown in Fig.

6, and its extremity l is bent downward, so as to lie snugly against thebody of the shuttle, as shown in Fig. 2.

m is a' thread-guide, of wire, fixed within the body of the shuttle byits angular bent end m being brazed or riveted in a hole in the side ofthe shuttle, the other end being free and projecting sufficiently beyondthe open heel end of the body part A to admit of the thread beingreadily slipped behind it before the reel is introduced into theshuttle. This guide m is provided with a loop 077. at about the middleof the length of the reel, through which the loop -thread runs fromwhichever part in the length of the reel it may be drawn, the straightportion of the wire m lying in the upper of the two corner spaces formedby the meeting of the flat side a with the tangential portions a aconnecting that side with the circular portion of the periphery of theshuttle, as shown in Figs. 1, 3, 5, and 6, while the loop m projectsover the reel toward the slit 2' and holej, as shown in Figs. 5 and 6.

The operation of threading the shuttle may be very readily performed andis as follows: The reel having been introduced into the body of theshuttle, so that the thread in unwinding will cause the reel to rotatetoward the left hand, (looking from heel to point of the shuttle,) theend portion of the thread which has been retained in the hand is slippedbehind the guide-wire m from beneath, then through the slitt' up to theholej, then brought around, so as pass under the forward end Z of thetension-plate 7c, and finally emerge from under said plate at the sideopposite to that at which the holej is situate. The thread M will nowhave assumed a position substantially as indicated in Figs. 5 and 6, andthe heel-cap B having been inserted and locked, as already described,the shuttle is ready to be placed in the machine.

It will be observed that in the operation of threading the shuttle, asabove described, there is no possibility of delay being caused throughthe difficulty of thrusting the end of the thread through a hole orholes.

It will be obvious that the heel-cap B may be secured to the bodyportion A of the shuttle by other means than those hereinbeforedescribed without departing from the spirit of the invention. Thus, forexample, the heel-cap might be arranged to screw into the body of theshuttle, or be held in position by a spring catch or catches, or beattached to the body of the shuttle by means of a hinge at the flat sideof the latter and a latch at the opposite side, the essentialcharacteristic of all the arrangements remaining the samenamely, thatprovision is made for introducing the reel into the shuttle in thelongitudinal direction at the heel end and for retaining the reel inposition substantially as already described.

We claim- 1. A sewing-machine shuttle open at the IIO heel end, aremovable cap fitting said open end, the cap and shuttle being providedone with a pin and the other with a locking-slot, the inner end of theslot trending backward or toward the edge of the member containing it,whereby the cap must be moved inward to release it, a spring and meansfor transmitting the trend of the spring to the cap through the spool.

2. A sewing-machine shuttle open at the heel end for the insertion of aspool, a cap for closing this end the cap having an inwardlyprojectingconical spool-center, a cap and shuttle-locking means requiring aninward movement of the cap to free it, a similar outwardly-projectingspool-center within the shuttle and slidable longitudinally thereon anda spring acting upon the inner center to press it outwardly whereby whenthe spool is inserted the cap is held securely against'removal,substantially as described.

3. A sewing-machine shuttle open at the heel end for the insertion of aspool, a cap for closing this end having an inwardly-projecting conicalspool-center, a cap and shuttlelocking means requiring an inwardmovement of the cap to free it, a center for the opposite end of thespool having an outwardly-projecting centering-cone and slidablelengthwise the shuttle, the shuttle having bearing-supports surroundingthis center, a stop limiting the outward movement of the center, and aspring behind the center acting to press it outwardly whereby when thespool is between the centers the cap is held securely against removal,substantially as described.

4. A sewing-machine shuttle open at the heel end for the insertion of aspool, a cap for closing this end having an inwardly-projecting conicalspool-center, means for locking the cap in place held againstdisengagement by outward pressure upon the cap, a complementary centerwithin the shuttle mounted to slide longitudinally thereon and having anaxial non'circular hole, a pin slidingly fitting within said hole andsecured at,its inner end to the shuttle and provided with a stop outsidethe center, anda spring behind said cen' ter pressing it outwardly,whereby the cap is held securely when the spool is in place,substantially as described.

5. A shuttle, having an open end, and acap fitting the same having aspool-center thereon, a spring-held inner center, a spool betweencenters, and means for locking the cap and shuttle together held againstdisengagement by the pressure of said spring acting through the spool.

6. A shuttle having an end facing opening at the heel for the insertionof the spool, a cap fitting said heel-end opening, .and a springbarsecured by its inner end within the shuttle and having its free endextending to the heel, said spring-bar having a thread guide or eyeformed therein, substantially as described.

PERCY HUGHES HEWITT. EDWIN A. OOCKLE. CHARLES MATTHEWS.

In presence of- G. G; CLARK, T. W. KENNARD.

